Case Assignment: Epidemiology

Case Assignment: Epidemiology
Case Assignment: Epidemiology
Case Assignment: Epidemiology
Week 2 discussion Demographic and Epidemiological Assessment For this discussion, you will collect assessment data about your city or county. This post will include information about demographics (general characteristics) and epidemiological data (disease or health behavior rates) of your community. Demographic data: Go online to the U.S. Census Bureau at https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Obtain a range information about the demographic characteristics of the population for your city or county of residence. You may have to look at county data if your city is not listed. Discuss demographic data about age, ethnicity, poverty levels, housing, and education. Epidemiological data: Go to your city or county health department website (search the Internet) or County Health Rankings (http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.) and report epidemiological data about your area. Identify several priority health concerns for your area. The Instructions on Finding Demographic Data on the U.S. Census Website (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. will assist you in using this website as a resource. Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2015). Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.Epidemiology is the method by which we identify causes of health problems and determine how widespread those causes are in a particular group of people. “Causes” means all of the physical, biological, social, environmental, cultural, and behavioral factors influencing health.
For instance, sickle-cell anemia is more common—or prevalent, to use an epidemiological term—among blacks and African Americans than among other ethnic groups. This has nothing to do with behavior. African Americans do not catch sickle-cell anemia. It is simply a matter of biology.
Similarly, alcoholism is more prevalent within American Indians or Native Americans than it is in other ethnic groups. Here, biology, culture, and behavior interact. Native Americans seem to be genetically less able than other groups to tolerate alcohol, making them more susceptible to alcohol addiction. In addition, poverty, isolation, and lack of education contribute to alcohol consumption. Finally, while admittedly a difficult habit to break, alcoholism can be viewed as a behavior largely under the individual’s control.
In a nutshell, you want to answer three questions:
What is the problem?
Who has the problem?
Why do those with the problem have it?
Now, do you see how it may not always be appropriate to limit your epidemiological analysis solely to behavioral factors?